Korg Grandstage 73 or Yamaha Cp88?

[AnotherScott]

4 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Strange that. I was offered a Kronos 2 73 a while back and simply assumed that it would be a GS on steroids. I didnt need all the workstation extras so I declined to try it, but you would think the same generation RH3 would play the same on any board that used it. 

One obvious source of difference would be the presence of the aftertouch in the Kronos landing. But there has been discussion before about how the same actions seem to feel different in different boards, for whatever combination of reason.

 

4 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

On a different note I always wondered why Korg discontinued the GS.

I think it was squeezed by the SV2 from the bottom and the Nautilus from the top. Too much overlapping functionality on boards at similar prices.

 

4 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I prefer the feeling of playing acoustic pianos on the SV2 over the SV1, but I am certain that has to do with how Korg calibrated the new piano patches for the RH3 vs. any changes they made to the action itself.  

The SV2 piano sounds are better to start with. If you triggered them from an SV1 (over MIDI), they might well feel about the same as they do when playing from the SV2's own keys.

 

Another variable to all this is that there have been different RH3 variants. The later SV1 had an ostensibly improved action over the earlier ones (identified by a "Made in Japan" sticker on the top key)... and I think that may have addressed the issue of SV1 keys sometimes cutting out immediately after being played... though overall, personally, I preferred the feel of the older one. Similarly, the earliest Kronos RH3s had that cutting out problem, and they addressed it... but it also made the keys feel a bit different.

[ProfD]

23 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

I think it was squeezed by the SV2 from the bottom and the Nautilus from the top. Too much overlapping functionality on boards at similar prices.

 

Agreed.  The GrandStage (GS) always reminded me of a best of Kronos sounds in a digital piano. 

 

I think Korg tried to compete with the Yamaha CP series.  The GS was grounded by the competition and cannibalized to an extent by its own family members (SV, Vox Continental and Kronos). 

 

28 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

Another variable to all this is that there have been different RH3 variants. The later SV1 had an ostensibly improved action over the earlier ones (identified by a "Made in Japan" sticker on the top key)...

I had the latter version of the SV-1 with no problems whatsoever.   Flawless.😎

[AnotherScott]

On 7/7/2023 at 10:39 AM, ElmerJFudd said:

I've played the grand stage 88 in the shop many times.  It also has a dynamic curve editing feature, single knob if I recall, which also does not send to MIDI. 

 

GS has 9 velocity curves available via menu, and you can choose how they affect MIDI output. There is also that single knob real-time "dynamics" control, and according to the soundonsound review, those "velocity shifts make it to the MIDI output too, so Dynamics has a useful role in master keyboard functionality."